Chippokes State Park
Chippokes State Park
695 Chippokes Park Rd.
Surry, VA 23883
757-294-3728
November 5 – 11, 2024
After Powhatan State Park, we moved on to Chippokes State Park, after a short two-hour drive. My site was once again sloped and off level, both front-to-back and side-to-side. But it also had its advantages: it was at the top of the loop, and it was a wheelchair-accessible site, so there was a concrete pad beside it and a paved path to the bathhouse directly behind it. It also had a nice level tent pad, which however was of no use to me. (I brought my tent but never set it up — it was mostly too cold to stay outside in an unheated tent, and besides, I didn’t think Davey would fare well in a tent or being left alone in the van.)
The loop I stayed in was the A loop, which is most likely the older loop, with tent sites and uneven pads. The B loop had larger, more level paved sites, but there were no sites available in loop B when I reserved my spot. My brother and SIL originally had a site in B loop, but moved to loop A to be closer to me, and they also ended up in a very sloped site. The sites on the inside of the loop seemed to be the sloped ones, while the outside sites looked more level. I’ll remember that If I ever stay at Chippokes again!
We took a drive around the park in the afternoon, stopping at the Visitors Center, where there were dioramas of local wildlife along with the usual tee-shirts and other tourist items. Behind the Visitors Center was a path that led down to the beach along the bay, and were treated to some beautiful views.
Wednesday, we visited the plantation area of the park. Chippokes is the site of one of the oldest continuously farmed plantations in the country, which has been a working farm since 1619. The Chippokes Farm and Forestry Museum preserves some of the original buildings and contains exhibits of farm machinery and household items used at the farm during its long history.
Then we had lunch at the Surry Seafood Company, a lovely restaurant located right on the water. There were a lot of boats docked at the small marina outside, with walkways that led up to the restaurant, so boaters could sail right up to the restaurant and enter from the water. I had a delicious salmon Caesar salad.
On Thursday we took the free ferry from Surry across the James River to historic Jamestown, home of the first permanent English settlement in the United States. We walked around the site, watched a short movie about the history of Jamestown at the Visitor Center, bought stuff in the gift shop, looked at displays, and ate a packed lunch on a bench outside. We could see the site of the original James Fort, but didn’t pay to go inside the fee area. Then we drove around the island loop, enjoying the scenery.
Finally, we visited the Jamestown Glasshouse, where glassblowers have been making glass items since 1607. We watched the artisans create stemmed glassware, one of many glass objects still made at the site. I bought a small brandy glass there. Then it was back across the river to our campground.
Friday was a quiet day at the campground. I spent most of the day in the van reading and playing games. After dinner, I went over to J&J’s site to hang around the camp fire for a while.
On Saturday, we returned to the Plantation site to tour the mansion, a two-story brick building with four rooms to a floor and a belvedere on top.
After we got back to camp, I spent the rest of the day getting the van in shape, first taking it to the dump station to empty the cassette and gray tank, re-doing the leveling blocks when I got back, figuring out how to open and close the little side windows that tended to get stuck when the van wasn’t level, and verifying that the propane tank valves were all in the correct positions and the propane tank was over half full.
Sunday was our last full day at Chippokes. It was another day at camp, raining heavily all day. The next day we packed up and headed on to the next park!